


Ultimate

by ofnovember



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Idiots, M/M, i need to write more with Beatrice, she's so amazing, ultimate frisbee au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-19
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-26 05:51:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2640443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofnovember/pseuds/ofnovember
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"If anyone were to ask Balthazar why he always hung out by the rec fields every Tuesday and Thursday he would definitely not tell them it was to watch the guy with the nice smile and the cool hair from his 16th Century Literature class play ultimate frisbee. He would never say that.</p><p>But it was true."</p><p>An Ultimate Frisbee AU :D</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ultimate

**Author's Note:**

> I saw the prompt on tumblr and I just couldn't help myself. 
> 
> I am American. I did my best. The university this is set in doesn't exist so I got to play around with it a little. I hope it still seems realistic.

If anyone were to ask Balthazar why he always hung out by the rec fields every Tuesday and Thursday he would definitely not tell them it was to watch the guy with the nice smile and the cool hair from his 16th Century Literature class play ultimate frisbee. He would never say that.

But it was true.

The first time wasn’t on purpose. There was a nice hill right next to the field with some trees and he decided to sit there a while and work on his new song on his guitar. At a point, he looked up and noticed that the once empty field was now occupied by a bunch of people running up and down the length of it while throwing a frisbee around. 

At first Balthazar didn’t notice cute-guy-from-his-lit-class, but once he did he had to try extremely hard not to stare. Luckily all of the players seemed too occupied with their sport to notice a skinny guy wearing a Mumford and Sons t-shirt sitting on the hill. 

He stayed until the game was done. He heard cute-guy-from-lit say something about returning to the field on Thursday, same time. 

From then on every Tuesday and Thursday Balthazar found himself watching Ultimate frisbee. 

***

They technically weren’t supposed to be using that field. When Pedro had registered with the University they were told to use one of the double fields. And they did. Until they didn’t.

The first time wasn’t their fault. Both fields had been hijacked by the football team so they all walked about five minutes to the secondary rec field. When they got to the field Pedro froze, causing his friend Ben to run into him.

“Sorry,” Pedro said distractedly. 

Sitting on the hill against one of the trees and strumming on a guitar was Piano Guy. 

For the past two months or so, every time Pedro cut through the Student Commons on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, the same guy was always in there playing the old piano. It was beautiful. Every now and then (recently almost every day) Pedro would purposefully leave early for his classes so he could stand and listen for a few minutes. 

It didn’t take long for Pedro to develop a crush on Piano Guy. After all, on top of being very good at piano, the guy was really cute. 

Pedro had never seen him outside the Commons, and occasionally the Arts building, before. 

“Pedro!” Pedro snapped his head towards where he heard his name come from to see Beatrice walking towards him. “Are we going to start any time soon, or are you just going to stare at Balthazar all day?” she asked sarcastically.

“Who?”

Beatrice rolled her eyes and walked towards him. “Balthazar. The guy with the guitar you’ve been looking at for the last thirty seconds.”

Pedro was confused. “Wait, his name’s actually ‘Balthazar?’”

“Oh, god. You’re hopeless!” said Beatrice, throwing her hands in the air dramatically. She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the middle of the field. “Can we get started now?"

Pedro glanced over at Piano Guy - no, Balthazar - one more time before focusing on the game. 

When the game was over, Claudio asked him if they would be meeting back at the old field that Thursday. 

"Actually, let's meet back here. Same time. I like this field more. The hills prevent the disc from flying too far," replied Pedro. Which was true, even if it wasn't Pedro's only reason.

***

Maybe he was imagining it, but Balthazar could swear that cute-guy-from-lit was staring at him. They never quite made eye contact; the guy would always look away the second Balthazar looked up. 

It was bugging him so much that he asked his friend Ursula to help. She was the only person he’d told about cute-guy-from-lit. 

“Hey!” said Ursula as she sat down next to him on the hill. 

Balthazar looked up at her and smiled. “Hi.”

Ursula pulled out her notebook and camera case from her bag and set them down. Balthazar resumed picking at his guitar. 

“So which one is he?” she asked. 

Without looking up Balthazar replied, “today he’s got a yellow shirt. Not the dark-haired guy. the other one.”

Ursula gasped. “Oh my god. That’s Pedro!” 

Balthazar stopped playing and looked up. “You know him?”

She smiled. “Yeah. Well. Bea knows him. She’s the blonde one at the end there. She’s in one of my photography classes,” Ursula added, gesturing towards the far end of the field. She looked back at Balthazar. “She introduced me to him once. ‘All-’round-great-guy Pedro’.”

Pedro. Well at least Balthazar had a name for him now. 

Balthazar didn’t watch much of the game this time. Ursula went back and forth between taking pictures of him and watching Pedro. Balthazar wasn’t a fan of having his picture taken but he knew Ursula wouldn’t show anyone the photos without asking him first. Still, he was always embarrassed when she’d take them.

When all of the players had left the field, he set his guitar aside. “Well?” he asked Ursula.

Ursula sighed. “He looked over here once a few minutes after I sat down, then nothing.”

Balthazar fell back against the hill. He tried to block out the feeling of disappointment but it wasn’t really working. He took a deep breath. 

“I’m sorry, Balthazar,” Ursula continued.

He shook his head. “No. It’s fine.” 

Ursula stood. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

***

Pedro hadn’t really expected to see Balthazar every single day they played Ultimate but to his surprise every Tuesday and Thursday there the guy was sitting on the hill with his guitar.

Pedro hadn’t told any of his friends about his crush on the musician. Claud would be no help and Ben and Bea would tease him mercilessly about it. So he kept it to himself. 

He was sure the guy caught him staring a few times but he couldn’t help it. What made him feel better were the moments when he could swear Balthazar was watching him. A glimmer of hope always rose in his chest when that happened. 

And then the girl showed up.

She was tall and cute. She showed up a few minutes into the game that day, settling herself next to Balthazar with an easy smile. Pedro tried not to feel jealous when he smiled back at her.

Over the next few minutes he spared several glances in their direction. She pulled a camera out of her back and took a few pictures of the surroundings before turning the camera on Balthazar, who smiled sheepishly and shook his head. 

Pedro met her eyes briefly and he looked away. For the rest of the game he forced himself not to look at the two on the hill. 

Why did she get to be close to Balthazar? Why did she get to make him smile?

He knew he was probably being irrational but he couldn’t help it. 

Pedro left the field quickly that day.

***

The next Thursday Balthazar went to sit outside the library instead of the rec field. Ursula found him an hour later getting more and more frustrated as his fingers rebelled against him and just refused to play the chords and notes he wanted them to. 

“What are you doing here?” she asked. 

Balthazar didn’t answer.

Ursula sighed. “Come on. You can’t just sit here and sulk. Let’s go get some frozen yogurt, yeah?”

“I’m not sulking,” lied Balthazar. Ursula gave him a pointed look. He shook his head and stood. “Fine. I’ll come.”

“Good.”

***

Balthazar’s absence at the field that day threw Pedro off his game spectacularly. He missed no less than four catches and his aim was terrible. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” shouted Bea after a horribly bad throw. 

Pedro pulled his hands over his face. “I don’t know! I’m sorry. Off day, I guess.”

Beatrice rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

When Balthazar didn’t show up the whole next week, Pedro lost hope on seeing him at the games ever again. 

***

“Did you write that?” 

The voice snapped Balthazar back to the present and his fingers stopped over the keys of the piano in the Commons. He liked to come here and play between classes. It was easier than going back home for a few hours and then walking all the way back.

Balthazar looked up and almost fell off the bench when he saw Pedro, cute-guy-from-lit-Pedro, standing a few feet away from the piano looking at him. “What?” he asked, voice almost catching on the word.

Pedro dropped his eyes to the floor and brought his hand up to run his hand through his hair. “I just… was wondering if you wrote that song you were just playing. I’ve never heard it before.”

“It’s, um… improv-ed actually,” replied Balthazar, still staring at Pedro. 

“Really? That’s amazing!” Pedro exclaimed, meeting Balthazar’s gaze. 

This time it was Balthazar’s turn to look away. “Uh… Thank you.” 

He couldn’t bring himself to look back up at Pedro and eventually Pedro excused himself, leaving Balthazar on his own again. After he was sure Pedro was gone, Balthazar groaned and banged his head on the keys. Eventually he pulled out his phone and texted Ursula. _I’m an idiot. I’m ditching class. Where are you?_

***

“Idiot!” Pedro whispered angrily to himself as he fled the Commons. Why did he have to say something? He could have just watched from afar, like he normally did. But no. He had to go make himself look like an idiot.

It was a strange thing for Pedro. Usually he was pretty confident around people. Even people that he liked he could talk to without problems. Why was it so hard for him to talk to this one guy?

When he reached his film studies class he fell heavily into the desk next to Bea’s. 

“What’s the matter with you?” she asked, noticing his expression. 

“Nothing Bea.” Pedro sighed, placing his elbows on his desk and holding his head up in his hands.

“Come on. Something’s going on with you. Ever since that day at Ultimate you’ve been,” Bea gesticulated wildly as she tried to find the right word, ”moping around campus. So what is it?”

“How well do you know Balthazar?” Pedro regretted speaking the moment the words left his mouth. 

Bea’s eyes widened at once. “Balthazar?! This is about Balthazar? Oh my god this is too good. I’ve got to tell Ben.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket but before she could start typing Pedro grabbed it out of her hand. 

He held the phone out of her reach. “Bea, stop. Please.”

“Give me my phone, Pedro.”

“I will so long as you promise not to text Ben,” replied Pedro as they stared each other down. It was bad enough that he had told Bea. If Ben knew, the teasing would never stop. 

Finally, Bea caved. “Fine. I won’t tell Ben.” Pedro handed her phone back to her. “Seriously though. What’s been going on?”

In the end Pedro decided to tell Bea. She might be loud and blunt but she was also very smart and she cared a lot about her friends. Besides, maybe he needed a little bluntness. “To get to this class I always walk through the Commons. Every single time I walk through Balthazar is playing on the old piano near the south doors. I’ve never talked to him before today and now I think I’ve made an idiot of myself.” 

“You really like him, then?” Bea asked, softer than Pedro had been expecting. 

Pedro sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. I do.”

Bea sat in silence for a moment, thinking. “Okay. I have class with Ursula tomorrow night. She’s really good friends with him.”

“Bea I don’t think-”

“Pedro. Trust me.” 

Pedro looked up to meet Beatrice’s eyes. “Fine.”

After all, there was no way she could make things worse. 

***

The next day Balthazar made his way to the rec field for the first time in about a month. He still wasn’t sure it was a good idea but Ursula had insisted.

Before, he had always made a point to get there before the game even started but today he ended up at the field when they were well into their game. 

It didn’t take long for Balthazar to spot Pedro; he had very specific hair. He stood at the end and watched for a bit before heading in the direction of the hill where he normally sat. 

***

Pedro was frustrated. On top of the incident the day before, he’d nearly failed the pop quiz he was given in the film studies class he had with Bea, and their team was currently losing the Ultimate game. 

“Pedro! Look at Bea!”

Pedro heard Ben’s yell and looked upfield. Sure enough Beatrice was wide open, sprinting away from him with an arm raised. 

He took a step forward and just as he began to release the frisbee he spotted someone just beyond Beatrice wearing a dark blazer with a guitar slung over his back. 

Balthazar.

He released the disc. 

***

Baltazar didn’t see it coming. He heard a girl yell his name and saw motion in the corner of his eye and then all of the sudden there was a sharp pain just to the side of his right eye. He fell, turning as he did so to avoid landing on his precious guitar. 

He got to his knees, bringing a hand up to the side of his face. The area stung when he touched it but when he pulled his hand away there wasn’t any blood. 

“Oh my god! Are you alright?” asked the same voice from earlier, closer this time. 

Balthazar looked up to see Beatrice running towards him. “I think so,” he replied, wincing as he got to his feet. 

“No no. You need to sit down. If you have a concussion, standing is not going to help. Take it from someone who knows.” Beatrice lead him over to the hill for him to sit back down as the rest of the team caught up to them. 

“I don’t think I have a concussion,” said Balthazar after he’d taken a seat, setting his guitar down to his left. He closed his eyes and brought a hand up to his head again. 

“You still shouldn’t be standing yet though.” 

“I am so sorr-” a new but familiar voice began to say. 

They were cut off by Beatrice. “Pedro make yourself useful and get the first-aid kit. If this is your idea of flirting it’s no wonder you’ve been having problems.”

“...Right.”

***

Pedro didn’t appreciate Bea’s last comment but she was right about the first-aid kit. He jogged to the other side of the field and grabbed the med bag, a bottle of water, and a clean towel from his bag before returning to Bea and Balthazar. She had cleared away the rest of the team and was currently asking Balthazar routine concussion questions. Balthazar didn’t seem to be having any problems answering them. 

“I don’t think he has a concussion, Bea,” said Pedro as he set the bag down.

Bea turned and looked at him. “What would you know? You’re only the one who hit him with a frisbee!”

“I’m fine. Really,” said Balthazar, holding his hand to the side of his head. He nodded at the bag at Pedro’s feet. “Is there an ice pack in that?”

Pedro dug through the bag until he found one. He cracked the inside pouch of the bag and shook it until it was cold. He wrapped the towel around it and handed it to Balthazar. 

“Right,” said Beatrice with finality, “Pedro, you stay here with Balthazar and make sure he doesn’t pass out. I’m going to get the game started again.” With that she turned and walked back towards the team. 

Pedro stood awkwardly a few feet away from Balthazar for a few moment’s before Balthazar motioned to spot next to him. “You can sit if you want. I don’t think I’m going to pass out but I don’t think either of us should argue with her.”

Pedro smiled and sat down in the spot Balthazar motioned to. “You are probably right about that. Bea is definitely not one to cross. At least if you want to stay in one piece.” 

Balthazar glanced over at him and gestured in Bea’s direction. “How long have you known her for?”

“Since we were like, twelve or thirteen. Hasn’t changed much, ‘cept now she’s dating Ben. They were sworn enemies for a while.”

“Sworn enemies? Isn’t that a little extreme?”

“Can you imagine her having casual enemies?”

“Nah, I mean I don’t really know her that well but from what I’ve seen, probably not.” 

Pedro grinned. This conversation was going so much better than their last one. He really wished that he hadn’t needed to hit Balthazar in the head with a frisbee to get there, but there was nothing to much he could do about it now. “I’m really sorry for hitting you in the head, by the way. I didn’t mean to.” 

“Well it’s nice to know that hitting me in the head wasn’t your idea of flirting.”

The comment took Pedro by surprise and he snapped his head around to look at Balthazar. He couldn’t see most of the guy’s face as it was hidden behind the ice pack. It took Pedro a few seconds to formulate a response. “Yeah, well. You’ve seen my idea of flirting and it… uh… didn’t work out as well as this is. Maybe I need to rethink my strategies.” He chuckled through the last sentence.

***

Balthazar looked down at the ground, thankful for the ice pack hiding his face. Pedro was right; this time was going a lot better than the last one. “Sorry about yesterday. I didn’t expect to see you there. You took me by surprise is all.”

“I surprised myself. I didn’t actually think I’d have the balls to talk to you.”

His hand holding the ice pack fell down to the grass. “What?” Balthazar said, not really knowing how to respond to that.

Pedro pulled at the grass. “Everytime I walk through the Commons to get to my film class you’re always in there playing the piano. Sometimes I start walking to class early so I can listen for a bit. You’re really good.”

Balthazar heart thudded in his chest and he gave a small smile. “Um, thanks. You sit two rows in front of me in my lit class.”

Pedro looked up to meet Balthazar’s eyes. “Really?” Balthazar nodded. “How did I not notice that? Don’t tell Bea that. She’d give me so much shit for not knowing that.”

“As long as you don’t tell Ursula I didn’t notice you listening to me play in the commons. She only looks harmless.”

Pedro smiled and looked up at the sky. Balthazar brought his ice pack back up to his face and watched the game for a bit. It wasn’t until a few minutes later when he lowered the ice pack again that something occurred to him. He set that ice pack down and held out his right hand to Pedro. 

***

“I’m Balthazar, by the way.” 

Pedro looked at Balthazar. He realized that the guy was right, they hadn’t actually introduced themselves before. Laughing, he took Balthazar’s hand to shake it. “Pedro.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Pedro.” 

They dropped hands and continued to stare at each other. Fuck it, thought Pedro. Being bold had worked so far during this conversation. “Do you want to get dinner with me tonight?” he asked.

Balthazar’s smile grew. “I’d really love to, but I actually have a gig tonight.”

“What gig is it? Would you mind if I tag along?”

“It’s my gig.”

Pedro brought a hand up to his forehead. “It’s your gig. Of course it’s your gig.” Balthazar laughed and Pedro dropped his hand from his face and looked back up at the sky. “Can I still tag along?”

“It’s my gig,” smiled Balthazar, “and you can definitely tag along.”

Pedro fell back against the hill behind him and stretched his arms up over his head, grinning like an idiot. “Good.”

Balthazar put the ice pack back against his head. “Good.”

***

“So, what’s going on here?”

Balthazar looked up to see Ursula standing a few feet away, smiling. Pedro sat up quickly next to him. 

“Oh hey, Ursula,” said Balthazar, smiling back at her. He gestured to Pedro. “Pedro hit me in the head with a frisbee and now he’s coming to my gig tonight.”

Ursula laughed. “Well I guess that’s one way to do it.”

Pedro held a hand up in defense. “Okay, I did not hit him on purpose.”

“Well it looks like everything worked out alright, regardless,” replied Ursula gesturing between the two of them.

“I think so,” said Pedro.

Balthazar set the ice pack down on the grass next to him and looked over at Pedro, covering his hand with his own. “I think so too.”

“Ah! Your hand freezing!” said Pedro loudly. 

Balthazar shrugged and began to pull his hand away. “Alright, fi-” 

Pedro grabbed Balthazar’s hand back and squeezed it. They looked at each other, grinning. 

Beatrice’s voice sounded from a distance. “You two are so cute, you make me sick!”

Everyone laughed and Balthazar and Pedro fell back against the grass, still holding hands. Pedro rolled slightly and moved the ice pack so it was leaning against the bruise on the side of Balthazar’s face. 

“Sorry again for that,” said Pedro quietly. 

Balthazar waggled his eyebrows and grinned. “Why don’t you buy me dinner sometime and we’ll call it even?” 

Pedro smiled and squeezed his hand. “It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!


End file.
